A Nostalgic Look At The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker For Wii U

Nintendo have released a new trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD that shares a look at some of the story and gameplay segments from the game. Watch it below:

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD was originally released for the Nintendo Gamecube in 2002. The HD remake, slated for release on Wii U this November, features improvements to the original game such as faster sailing, Miiverse integration, and other adjustments.

Is it just me or do the graphics (specifically the sky and some parts) seem less cell-shaded than the GCN version?

http://s1.zetaboards.com/Espada_of_Alexandria/index/ konpon568

I don’t think so, IMO. The game does look better with the shadows and light effects. The game also has some extra bloom effects, which might be responsible for what might be affecting the Cell-shading.

SlickRoach

Ahh that’s the term I was looking for, bloom effects. That’s whats throwing it off a bit for me.

David García Abril

Yeah, it puts me off too…

http://gentlerobot.com/ Gentle Robot

Cripes, the intertitles look better than the game. I’m not usually one to pick on graphics, but that was the whole point of this remake.

Suicunesol

What was the problem?

http://gentlerobot.com/ Gentle Robot

The humans just look weird, like they lack depth. They don’t really match the backgrounds. The backgrounds and the big bird look pretty decent. Feel free to call me crazy, but it doesn’t seem like a $50 improvement over the original http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de0p2-GsfOA&t=29m50s

Suicunesol

That’s the visual style. Their faces are very flat.

And I think the backgrounds fit as fine as they did in the original. You might be expecting $50+ worth of new content, but that’s not how HD releases work. Windwaker aged very well in the first place so there’s not much to change. You may argue that it’s not worth $50; I can share your sentiment, but I also revere Nintendo’s desire to rebel against the notion that game value, regardless of its quality, depreciates with time.

Maybe you’ll see the difference when you play the game. Youtube videos don’t usually do justice.

https://twitter.com/Ni_Go_Zero_Ichi Project 2501

Yeah, watching footage for this remake just drives home how perfectly attuned the graphical style of the original game was to the hardware capabilities of the Gamecube. Adding modern visual flourishes doesn’t enhance the style, as it would for a game that was originally aiming for semi-realistic visuals; it just throws the whole thing off, making it look creaky and disjointed.

I felt kinda similar about the Ocarina of Time remake, actually.

Suicunesol

Actually, I thought the OoT enhanced port was great. Did a lot more than add “modern visual flourishes.” Only thing I missed was the N64 controller and the TV screen. Aaaand some of the dungeons were a bit more lighted than they should have been. But I still was impressed about some of the recreated locations

Windwaker “remake” likely won’t go anywhere near OoT’s “remake”.

http://gentlerobot.com/ Gentle Robot

Yeah, the OoT remake was great, because the original really looked like garbage. I finished Wind Waker last year and the gamecube version looks fine. It doesn’t have the modern flourishes that HD games do, but it also doesn’t the hideous textures that earlier 3D games do.

Compare this with the FFX remake where they literally have to show you a side-by-side comparison when selling the game. At some point they’re splitting hairs and not making the most obvious improvements.

idrawrobots

Personally I think that if the Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection was worth its launch price, that this more fully developed remake is worth its price.
Additionally i look at the visuals of this remake as toys rendered realistically rather than more flat, wood block, look of the original.

https://twitter.com/Ni_Go_Zero_Ichi Project 2501

That’s how I thought of it when the first screenshots were released; but now that more footage is available, it’s clear that that’s not really what they were going for, and frankly it’s just not differentiated enough from the original look. It just IS the original look, with hamhanded additions that make it look graphically “better”, but stylistically worse.

And it’s frustrating too, because with stuff like Hero Mode and the alleged fixing of the Triforce hunt I would love to be able to call this a superior version of the game.

idrawrobots

Well, it’s my favorite so I will be getting it and I’ll have to see how much it hurts or helps.

http://gentlerobot.com/ Gentle Robot

I think a lot of the appeal of the Ico/SOTC release was that Ico was difficult to find. Also it was part of a trend of rereleasing multiple games or a whole series.

idrawrobots

more detail, yes. Better… I wouldn’t say so.

https://twitter.com/Ni_Go_Zero_Ichi Project 2501

Please, for the love of god Nintendo, include an option to turn bloom lighting off. PLEASE. If you released it as paid DLC I would freaking pay EXTRA for that.

James Enk

one of the best games i ever played and it looks amazing i am seriously considering getting it again

AndyLC

Wind Waker took the box from Metal Gear, so Metal Gear took the catapult and put it in MGS4…

Video game stories from other sites on the web. These links leave Siliconera.